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superdave5221 · #11 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by eternally-gratefull

What about the baptism which counts? The baptism of the HS, where we are placed into Christ. Hid Body and our sins are cleansed through the washing and renewal of the HS. The spiritual circumcision accomplished through the baptism of God, who as Paul said, raised him (Christ) from the dead

Acts 2: 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins ; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation !" 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized ; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Peter seems to think that being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, which we know is water baptism, kind of counts for something. It precedes the receiving of the "gift of Holy Spirit". That is a gift worth receiving. And it would appear from verse 41 that the water baptism is the event which signifies that one is "added to Christ's church".

Now we know that water baptism was believed by the early church fathers and apologists to be necessary for salvation. These are those people who either knew the apostles, or knew someone who knew the apostles.

I can't imagine how those church fathers, who were closest to the apostles, and who were responsible for recognizing the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, could have gotten it wrong.

I would think that they knew more about this subject then did Zwingli 1500 years later.

By the way, in the name of Jesus Christ, means that Jesus Christ is responsible for the forgiving of sins, not the person administering the baptism, nor the water itself.